Day Trip to Gombe National Park

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Western Circuit

Walking Safaris

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Tour snapshot

Duration:
Day Trip

Safari Type
Walking Safaris, Tourist Attractions

Can be Tailor-made:
Yes

Free Cancellation
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Activities

Bird Watching

Walking / Hiking

Chimpanzee Watching

Overview

This chimpanzee day tour to Gombe Stream National Park is sometimes known as the weekend break is ideal for travelers with limited time who want to experience the chimpanzee trekking. Gombe is the smallest of Tanzania’s national parks. The major attraction of the Gombe Stream is the chimpanzees, made famous by Jane Goodall in 1960 when she established the area as a chimpanzee research station. Despite its tiny size of only 52 sq km, it’s a magnificent, dense tropical forest rising steeply from Lake Tanganyika in western Tanzania. It is a park without roads, where you can walk and experience nature with all your senses.

Itinerary

Day 1

Kigoma Town - Gombe Stream National Park – Kigoma Town

We pick you up from your hotel in Kigoma and transfer to Kibirizi port where you will take a boat to Gombe Stream National Park. The journey takes about one hour and a half. Upon arrival at Gombe, you register at the park headquarters and get assigned to a guide who escorts you into the forest for chimpanzee trekking.

The main highlight of the Gombe day trip is chimpanzee trekking but apart from that, there are many other primate species, including baboon, vervet monkey, red colobus monkey, blue monkey, and bush babies. Gombe also hosts a wide variety of bird species (over 200 species) which range from the iconic fish eagle to the jewel-like Peter’s twinspots that hop tamely around the visitors’ centre.

Walking in the forest searching for the chimpanzee is very fascinating. From a distance, you will hear the sounds made by chimpanzees communicating with each other. There are thousands of plant and flower species that may be found in the park. As we continue with the tracking of chimps we shall walk up to the hill to Kakombe waterfalls. After picnic lunch, we continue to trek for chimps as well as to spot different birds and fruits eaten by chimps.

In the afternoon, we return by boat and then transfer to your hotel in Kigoma town. This Trip can also take you to visit the Dr. Livingstone memorial site.

It is best visited during the dry season (June to October) since the chimps don’t roam as far, providing for better photo opportunities. The wet season is typically from February to June and then again from November to mid-December.

Please note that the minimum age to participate in chimpanzee trekking is 15 years old.